Wow, this really sucks for those who are living in the EU! This storing of text messages sounds like something right out of the Patriot Act here in the US!

After making initial efforts to bring down international roaming rates earlier this month, the EU now wants to hit mobile operators’ bottom line by requiring them to store call and Internet records and text messages so they can be searched by police. It’s also the latest part of the EU’s data-retention kick, moving forward even if the rules violate privacy laws. While mobile operators “will receive an appropriate compensation for demonstrated additional costs,” its doubtful they’ll swallow the additional costs without a fight, and these pragmatic concerns don’t answer any of the theoretical questions that dog data retention. In any case, David Beckham had better watch out. [Read the rest]